Boot Camp (character creation)

[reefwood]

This adventure will take place as a series of scenes during a wartime setting. The details behind the conflict will be left purposefully vague, and the characters will start out as low level grunts... a cut above the rest but not grandiose heroes in any position to change the overall outcome. The story will focus on what happens to them, a small slice of the much larger pie, as they enter the fray and become entrenched in the conflict.

Characters will start out at 2nd-level and advance to 4th-level before the end of the adventure. If a PC is killed, a new one may be rolled up for the next scene. Only options presented in Pathfinder may be used.

Players are welcome to add details to the war to tie their characters into the conflict. The only thing the DM will impose is that it is an extremely big war (across the continent? the world?) that has been going on for a long time (decades? centuries?), but your tie-in to the war could be based on more recent events or you could be from somewhere it hasn't reached yet.


Character Creation

Ability Scores
Roll 4d6 six times, drop lowest. No re-rolls allowed. If you have some bad rolls, just think of yourself as some poor sap that got drafted against their will.

Hit Points
The standard max hit points at 1st-level, and you gain hit points equal to at least half your class HD at all other levels. If the hit point total (HD+Con) rolled is equal to at least half the HD for that class, no change is made. Otherwise, bump it up to half the HD amount. For example, a Fighter (1d10) taking his second level gains 5 hp, regardless of Con mod, even if the rolled result is a smaller total (HD +Con modifier). Rolling "3 +2 Con" or "2 +1 Con" or "6 -1 Con" all result in no more or less than 5 hp gained.

Military Skills
You must select two of the following skills as ones in which you've received special training and place at least one rank in each of them. The selected skills must be chosen at 1st level and cannot be changed, but the minimum one rank may be placed at 1st or 2nd level. Military skills are always considered class skills at every level and receive a circumstance competence bonus equal to half your character level.
Skills to choose from: Acrobatics, Craft, Disable Device, Heal, Intimidate, Knowledge (military), Ride, Profession (military), Spellcraft, Survival, Use Magic Device

Military Feats
You may select up to two of the following feats as special bonus feats. You must meet the pre-requisites, but you may select the feat(s) at 1st or 2nd level, and the same feat may be taken twice if it can be applied to different criteria each time, such as Weapon Focus (longsword) and Weapon Focus (light crossbow).
Feats to choose from: Armor Proficiency (any), Combat Casting, Combat Expertise, Combat Reflexes, Deadly Aim, Manybolt*, Point Blank Shot, Power Attack, Rapid Reload, Shield Proficiency (any), Skill Focus, Spell Focus, Toughness, Weapon Finesse, Weapon Focus, Weapon Proficiency (any), or any feat which grants a +2 bonus to paired skills (such as Alertness or Stealthy)
*house feat

Starting Equipment Packages (select one)

Standard Combat
- Masterwork melee weapon (300+ gp)
- Masterwork ranged weapon w/ mundane ammunition (300+ gp)
- Masterwork light armor (150+ gp)
- 100 gp to spend on adventuring gear, special substances, tools & skill kits, additional weapons/armor
- 200 gp to spend on misc potions
- 1 potion of cure light wounds
= 1,100-1,300+ gp

Magic Combat
- Wand of any 1st-level touch spell [25 charges] (375 gp)
- Wand of any 1st-level ranged spell [25 charges] (375 gp)
- Potion of mage armor x3 (150 gp)
- 100 gp to spend on adventuring gear, special substances, tools & skill kits, additional weapons/armor
- 100 gp to spend on misc scrolls
- 1 potion of cure light wounds
= 1,150 gp

Hybrid Combat
- Masterwork melee weapon or wand of any 1st-level touch spell [25 charges]
- Masterwork ranged weapon w/ mundane ammunition or wand of any 1st-level ranged spell [25 charges]
- Masterwork light armor or potion of mage armor x3
- 100 gp to spend on adventuring gear, special substances, tools & skill kits, additional weapons/armor
- 150 gp to spend on misc potions and scrolls
- 1 potion of cure light wounds
= 1,100-1,300+ gp

[Enric]

Okay, my usual question: what kind of characters are you guys thinking about? I'm leaning most strongly toward a wizard or maybe a sorcerer, as those are the classes from 3.5 that I think could stand the most improvement, and I'm curious to see how they play in Pathfinder.

[Rabbit]

So far I have had several ideas run through my mind and I am interested in all, so I can be flexible. It also depends on what kind of stats I roll.

Some ideas:
I am am starting to get into the idea of a Sharp Shooter: not sure the specific classes but with a heavy focus on ranged combat that protects the front line. I guess that kind of depends if other people make front line type characters.

Barbarian: But rather than a savage/close-to-nature character I like the idea of a hot tempered noble. He could have been a commander if not for a bad attitude. So perhaps one level in barbarian then something with more skills (a social rogue/barbarian perhaps.)

Monk: A scout for the larger party. Run around and punch people.

[reefwood]

A few things to note after doing something thinking this week...

1) The PCs will be slightly higher in rank than the standard grunt (which helps explain the extra training that results in the house-rule military skills & military feats), and as such, there will be at least one scene where each player controls a small number of NPCs under their command. Given that these scenes may also present a higher chance of death, it'll give the players something to do even if their PC gets killed early on. Or if the player wants to focus more on creating the new PC for the next scene, the dead PC's grunts will fall under the command of the surviving PCs. And of course, seeing one's commander get taken out could influence the attitude/morale of the grunts.

2) PC builds must be completed before we sit down to play. This is still weeks away, so no hurry, but I do want to present some story info (detailing the first scene) a couple days before the first session and don't want any last minute changes to builds after that point. In terms of character creation, you can think of being in boot camp to earn your first two levels (or some other backstory reason would be fine too), and you know you are going to war, but you won't know the details of where you're being stationed yet. What I will allow, however, is last-minute changes to equipment since lots of equipment is available to soldiers, especially when first being shipped out from a homebase area. Essentially, your training is already set, but when you go the supply room/armory/etc, you have the opportunity to select what will be best suited for your first assignment. Maybe you spent all your gold on alchemist's fire but find out that the area you're being sent is overrun by undead, so decide to stock up on holy water instead.

3) This is war, so the overall adventure will be heavy on the combat, but each scene will be different, and the goal of each one won't necessarily to be to "kill it".

4) Rabbit showed interest in the rapid repeating crossbow idea, so I'll get the details of that figured out by next week.

[Rabbit]

Just some thoughts here;

I am getting more and more into the idea of a sharp shooter archer type. And if the repeating crossbow works out I could see going with that. FYI.

Also, for back story I like the idea of this guy being in a family that has a tradition of military service. Perhaps his grandfather gained his citizenship by serving in the army and was able to make a decent life for his family thanks to the spoils of war; and his son did the same, and his sons followed (my character and his brothers.) For the family it is seen with a sense of pride and honorable way to be supporting the family.

And I see him as quit religous. "Pray to the gods, tend to their temples and they will tend to you in the afterlife." Depending on the pantheon/ dieties reefwood has will effect the details.

I could see my character (his family and even most soldiers) worshipping a god like the Roman's Mars/ Greek's Aries. In the DnD pantheon that could be a tweeked version of Hector perhaps? I like the focus on war itself and not honor or valor...

[reefwood]

Jun 8, 2009 12:13:11 GMT -5 Rabbit said:

Just some thoughts here;

I am getting more and more into the idea of a sharp shooter archer type. And if the repeating crossbow works out I could see going with that. FYI.

I think the rapid repeating crossbow will be pretty similar to the standard repeating crossbow (exotic weapon, case holds 5 bolts that takes a full-round action to load) but with the ability to fire multiple shots in one round.

Originally, I was thinking of having it work with a cumulative -2 penalty to each consecutive shot but now realize that such a penalty would make it much more advantageous than other single-weapon/multi-attack options in the game, such as those provided with a high enough base attack bonus or natural attacks. I believe both of those come with -5 penalties to the additional attacks (for example, +11/+6/+1 base attack for a Ftr11 or +3 two claws and -2 one bite for a creature with claw and bite attacks that has a +3 base attack and Str mod of +0). For the natural attacks, there is the Multiattack feat which reduces the secondary attack penalty to -2 instead of -5.

Anyway, I'm going to give this weapon some more thought but do still want to make it happen and be a decent option.

Also, for back story I like the idea of this guy being in a family that has a tradition of military service. Perhaps his grandfather gained his citizenship by serving in the army and was able to make a decent life for his family thanks to the spoils of war; and his son did the same, and his sons followed (my character and his brothers.) For the family it is seen with a sense of pride and honorable way to be supporting the family.

This totally works, and with the long-lasting enormity of this war, you all could have served in the same war. Or maybe the nation has been at war this whole time but fighting against different nations/groups/etc over the generations.

And I see him as quit religous. "Pray to the gods, tend to their temples and they will tend to you in the afterlife." Depending on the pantheon/ dieties reefwood has will effect the details.

I could see my character (his family and even most soldiers) worshipping a god like the Roman's Mars/ Greek's Aries. In the DnD pantheon that could be a tweeked version of Hector perhaps? I like the focus on war itself and not honor or valor...

I hadn't given any thought to deities yet, but feel free to add that to your background and/or the nation. I'm totally open to people adding details like this to help build the world since, outside of the scenes for the adventure, it's a pretty wide open template and can be pretty much whatever the players want. My only requirement is that there's a huge war that's being going on for a long time in at least some parts of the world.

[icnivad]

I'm still pretty open, but I'm kind of leaning toward a necromancer type character of some sort. I'm not sure weather to do this as a cleric, or a wizard.

[Rabbit]

Jun 8, 2009 14:18:11 GMT -5 icnivad said:

I'm still pretty open, but I'm kind of leaning toward a necromancer type character of some sort. I'm not sure weather to do this as a cleric, or a wizard.

cleric might make more sense since we will be in a war setting and the armor ability might come in handy... especially when considering that so many necromancer spells have touch as their range.

[reefwood]

Jun 8, 2009 15:05:41 GMT -5 Rabbit said:

Jun 8, 2009 14:18:11 GMT -5 icnivad said:

I'm still pretty open, but I'm kind of leaning toward a necromancer type character of some sort. I'm not sure weather to do this as a cleric, or a wizard.

cleric might make more sense since we will be in a war setting and the armor ability might come in handy... especially when considering that so many necromancer spells have touch as their range.

I didn't plan out this way, but the starting packages provide the same armor bonus to AC. The highest armor bonus you can get with the standard combat package is a chainshirt with a +4 armor bonus, and the mage armor that comes with the magic combat package also provides a +4 armor bonus. The spoils of war, should you do well, have the potential to boost the AC of either class. Although, there probably are more items that a cleric can stack to boost AC than a wizard. Even from the get-go, the extra starting gold can be used to get a heavy shield, which is better for a cleric than a wizard.

And I'm not trying to influence the decision one way or the other. I don't have any particular preference but wanted to point out these things.

[icnivad]

after looking into it a little more, it looks like I wouldn't be able to do any undead creation in the span of this adventure (L2-4). Since undead creation was kind of the direction I was looking to take this character, I think I'm gonna head back to the drawing board. I'm kind of leaning toward a combat oriented druid riding his companion.

[icnivad]

"Sir Grolton, Private First Class, 1st Cavalry Division, reporting for duty, Sir!"

Sir Grolton is a half orc druid riding his companion (horse) into battle. He fights with a greataxe and is fairly combat oriented.

Reefwood: Do I use the stats for warhorse? or horse (non-war)? and what rules do I use for creating it? standard stats? roll 4d6 for the companion?

[reefwood]

Jun 8, 2009 18:42:18 GMT -5 icnivad said:

"Sir Grolton, Private First Class, 1st Cavalry Division, reporting for duty, Sir!"

Sir Grolton is a half orc druid riding his companion (horse) into battle. He fights with a greataxe and is fairly combat oriented.

Reefwood: Do I use the stats for warhorse? or horse (non-war)? and what rules do I use for creating it? standard stats? roll 4d6 for the companion?

You pose some good questions and the same ones I was looking into for Davren in the Den of Heroes game.

The animal companion is a horse, not a warhorse, but you can select from light or heavy. Also, Handle Animal can be used to train an animal for combat (DC 20), so it can fight and won't be spooked in melee. It still won't have the stat of a warhorse, but the animal companion improvements should make it pretty comparable at the higher levels of this adventure. I'll let you Take 10 on this if you have a modifier high enough to succeed on this task. Otherwise, you can roll for it once before the adventure begins and then probably between most of the scenes until you succeed.

Also, the animal companion will use standard stats. Monster/animals stats aren't available for Pathfiner yet, but I've converted a few creatures, and they wind up being mostly the same numbers in the end. Just let me know if you want a light or heavy horse, and I can figure it out pretty easily.

[icnivad]

Heavy.

Also, would you be willing to let me "forgo" the ranged weapon (worth 300gp) and equipment or potions (worth 100gp) in order to purchase a heavy warhorse (worth 400gp)? We could either call this the companion, or I could select a different companion, and we would just treat this as a purchased horse.

[reefwood]

Jun 8, 2009 19:28:02 GMT -5 icnivad said:

Heavy

Here are the stats, and I'd say once a horse is trained for combat, it uses its hooves as primary weapons and gains the bite attack as a secondary weapon, much like a warhorse.

Horse

Horses are widely domesticated for riding and as beasts of burden.

Combat
A horse not trained for war does not normally use its hooves to attack. Its hoof attack is treated as a secondary attack and adds only half the horse’s Strength bonus to damage. (These secondary attacks are noted with an asterisk in the Attack and Full Attack entries for the heavy horse and the light horse.)

Horse, Heavy
Size/Type: Large Animal
Hit Dice: 3d8+6 (19 hp)
Initiative: +1
Speed: 50 ft. (10 squares)
Armor Class: 13 (-1 size, +1 Dex, +3 natural), touch 10, flat-footed 12
Base Attack/Combat Maneuver Bonus: +2/+6
Attack: Hoof -1 melee (1d6+1*)
Full Attack: 2 hooves -1 melee (1d6+1*)
Space/Reach: 10 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: —
Special Qualities: Low-light vision, scent
Saves: Fort +5, Ref +4, Will +2
Abilities: Str 16, Dex 13, Con 15, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 6
Skills: Perception +7 (3 ranks +3 training +1 Wis)
Feats: Endurance, Run
Environment: Temperate plains
Organization: Domesticated
Challenge Rating: 1
Advancement: —
Level Adjustment: —

The statistics presented here describe large breeds of working horses such as Clydesdales. These animals are usually ready for heavy work by age three. A heavy horse cannot fight while carrying a rider.

Carrying Capacity
A light load for a heavy horse is up to 200 pounds; a medium load, 201-400 pounds; and a heavy load, 401-600 pounds. A heavy horse can drag 3,000 pounds.

[icnivad]

Thanks for the stats. I added a little to my post. see above.